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8.19.2013

A Tasting At Bee's Knees Supply Company

Have you been to Bee's Knees Supply Company yet? You really need to get over there. Seriously. I've been three times now and find tons of stuff I want to try and buy every time. The first two times I headed over just because I was in the area, and most recently I was invited in for a tasting. I had no idea that they make so much great stuff in house and have such amazing charcuterie and sandwiches.

Bee's Knees Supply Company is a specialty grocery store where you can find fun food-related gifts and interesting ingredients, grab lunch, or pick up supplies for dinner. Wine, cheese, charcuterie, and more -- it's all there! There's even a butcher counter, a bakery counter, and a chocolate counter, so you can grab everything you need, from appetizers to dessert, even Batch ice cream by the scoop. You could actually plan a whole wedding using everything from Bee's Knees -- they can do wedding favors and floral arrangements in addition to catering.

We started off the tasting with house-made burrata with fresh fruit, Marcona almonds, and honey and glasses of Juve Y Camps Cava Rose. The burrata was creamy and wonderful and paired nicely with the sweet honey and berries. I liked the rose so much that I bought a bottle to bring home.

Then we got to meat of the evening. Literally. One board featured pork liver mousse and pork and pistachio pate, both made in house. I'm not a big liver mousse person, but I loved the pate. With a little bit of bread and mustard, it was heavenly.

The charcuterie board offered a nice sampling of what you can find at Bee's Knees. We tried Blackberry Farm finocchiona, Larchmont beef prosciutto, Charlito's Cocina cerveza seca beer salami, and Edwards Farm peanut-fed surryano. The finocchiona was my favorite and made me want to visit Blackberry Farm even more than I already do. There was mustard, pear mustard, fig jam, and nuts to pair with all the meats. And there was also olive oil caviar -- tiny pearls of olive oil that burst and emit worlds of olive oil flavor when you eat them. I was pretty obsessed and would have bought a jar to bring home but we couldn't find any in stock (hopefully next time).

We moved on to the next course, which was paired with Green River Ambrosia Ginger Libation. If you are a fan of fresh ginger, you must try this. It was almost like drinking a bubbly ginger juice. I don't want to say ginger soda because that makes me think of ginger ale, and it was nothing like ginger ale, at least not the ones I've had. It was very spicy and fresh-tasting.

We were presented with a gorgeous salad, full of mixed greens, fresh seasonal berries, golden raisins, marcona almonds, pistachios, and goat cheese, and dressed with a honey and fig vinaigrette.

And we got to try a number of sandwiches that are available at the shop as well. There was the made-in-house chicken patty, which has ranch, lettuce, tomato, and onion, and is interestingly served on cranberry-walnut bread. The chicken patty is all natural and so very good. Next to that was the Bee's Knees burger -- a flat patty with Manchego, onion jam, and house-made pickles. Definitely a tasty burger.

The coppa sandwich featured coppa, burrata, arugula, tomato, and balsamic on ciabatta. Yes, please. The porky fig, as the name implies, is ciabatta bread filled with La Quercia Berkshire prosciutto, goat gouda, fig jam, arugula, and French butter. Another winner. And the pressed duck club has two kinds of duck -- rilletes and duck breast -- aong with Vermont raclette cheese and Maine wild blueberry jam.

Add to that an array of calzones with house-made dough and mozzarella, and it was a feast. (I had a few bites of everything.) Bee's Knees offers even more sandwiches and salads than those we tried, so there's plenty to choose from. The ones we had were all made with fresh ingredients and had interesting pairings. I've never had blueberry with duck, and it worked really well.

There was still one more course to get through after all those sandwiches and the wonderful charcuterie and burrata: cheeses and chocolates. We switched to Vignaioli di Stefano Moscato d'Asti for this last course. The sweet bubbly wine nicely complemented the cheeses and chocolate.

Bee's Knees has a huge selection of domestic, imported, and even made-in-house cheeses. We had just a small taste of the vast selection. There was Manigodine (a creamy farmhouse cheese), Casa Madaio Paglierino (a sheep's-milk cheese), Crotin de Chavignol (a goat's-milk cheese), Woodcock Farm True Blue (a washed rind blue), and my absolute favorite: Beemster XO (an aged gouda). I looked for that gouda after the tasting and it's around $20 a pound. No wonder I liked it so much!

I went back and forth between nibbling on cheeses and trying different chocolates. The chocolates are also made in house and are Blue Tierra chocolates. We tried various truffles, as well as chocolate bark and peanut brittle. The chocolates are really creative and I thought the turtle one was adorable.

I wish I lived much closer to Bee's Knees Supply Company or that there was one near me! I could see myself stopping in every evening to grab some cheese and charcuterie for a pre-dinner snack.

This tasting was complimentary, but the opinions expressed are my own.